Snow possible overnight as temps drop near freezing

Topeka gets an inch to an inch and a half of rain Sunday, including quarter-sized hail

Two freeze warnings were issued Sunday as light snow was possible overnight into early-morning hours Monday in the capital city, said Kris Sanders, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The two warnings, covering much of northeast Kansas including Shawnee County, go from midnight to 10 a.m. Monday and 11 p.m. Monday to 9 a.m. Tuesday.

In addition to the cold temperatures, which were expected to hover around 32 degrees, a chance of light rain was possible before 1 a.m., then snow and freezing drizzle between 1 and 4 a.m., the weather service projected. No accumulation was expected to come from that, Sanders said.

More snow was possible after 4 a.m. with a band coming from south central Kansas. Wind gusts could get as high as 35 mph.

Sanders said if the snow band were to reach Topeka, the weather service is expecting a half-inch to possibly an inch of snow.

If it stays south of the capital city, a dusting to an half-inch would be more likely.

“I don’t think Topeka will be in the band,” Sanders said, “so (Topeka) may just see a quick hour or two (of precipitation).”

The weather service estimated the snow wouldn’t stick on the roads but only on grassy surfaces and put the chances of snow at 40 percent, with it mostly coming before 11 a.m.

Monday’s high is projected at 43 degrees, with a low Monday night into Tuesday at 26 degrees.

As for the multitude of thunderstorms that came across the area Sunday, the largest hail size and rainfall totals for the area were reported in Topeka.

The weather service said they received reports of hail as large as a quarter in the capital city Sunday afternoon, adding the city received between an inch and an inch and a half of rain.

The inch-sized hail was rare though, as most reports came out to be penny- or pea-sized.

Flooding at several major intersections and roads — including S.W. 17th at S.W. Fairlawn and S.W. Wanamaker, along S.W. MacVicar from S.W. 17th to S.W. 21st, and S.E. 29th — was reported, as the rain fell quickly at about an inch an hour.

A flood advisory was issued for both Shawnee and Douglas County during the storms.

The weather service said there was no reports of tornadoes in the area Sunday, with the risk being very low in the first place.

As the storms came through, the temperature dropped, as it went from 74 degrees at 2 p.m. to 53 down by 3 p.m.

Reports of wind gusts as much as 45 mph in Topeka were called into to the weather service, and gusts near Iola were as high as 60 mph.

Westar Energy spokeswoman Gina Penzig said about 3,500 customers experienced power outages in Shawnee County, with the outages coming in 20 different cases Sunday.

Most of the cases ranged from 10 to 100 customers without power.

Two cases were unique. The first was an early-morning outage caused from an animal getting into a substation that left about 1,400 without power.

The other was Sunday evening in the Shawnee Heights area where 1,200 were without power for a time because of weather-related issues. Lightning and wind were the cause of most of the outages, Penzig said.

Penzig said there were scattered outages throughout Westar’s coverage area in the eastern third of the state as well.